Zahedan Journal of Research in Medical Sciences
Year:2010 | Volume:11 | Issue:4|Papers Count:9

Background: Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the common disabling conditions in human. Joint mobilization is a passive rhythmic accessory movement therapy that is used in the treatment of OA. In this study, the effect of grade one mobilization, on pain reduction of knee OA has been investigated. Materials and Methods: This study was an unidirectional blind clinical trial with random sampling from patients admitted to Sarcheshme physiotherapy clinic in 2007. Thirty participants were divided into 3 groups randomly: group 1: Mobilization + Exercise therapy, group 2: Exercise therapy and group 3: Mobilization. Ultrasound with the intensity below 0.2 W/Cm2 was used for all groups as placebo. The treatment was done in 10 sessions during 3 weeks. Outcome was measured using was WOMAC questionnaire form (Likert Type). Measurements were done before and after treatment and one week after final treatment session. Friedman, Wilcoxon and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used for data analysis included.Results: Comparison of pain between before and after treatment showed significant differences in group 1 (P=0.01) and group 3 (P=0.04) but was not significant in group 2 (P=0.135). The difference of pain at follow up visit was significant only in group 1 in comparison to before treatment (P=0.007). Pain reduction between before and after treatment (P=0.504) and before treatment and follow up session (P=0.18), showed no significant differences, between 3 groups. Conclusion: This study showed that grade 1 mobilization can decrease the pain of knee OA. If exercise therapy is used combined with mobilization, the effect of treatment will continue at least for about one week.

Background: Mixed organic solvent exposure, as well as noise, has a wide spread in different industries. In recent years it has been propounded that simultaneous exposure to mixed organic solvents and occupational noise can establish a hearing loss that is more severe than hearing loss due to exposure to each of them separately.Materials & Methods: A descriptive- analytic study was conducted during 2008 in an automobile industry on 441 employees in three different groups. First group were assembly workers that only exposed to noise. The second group included employees in new painting saloon that exposed not only to noise but also to permissible levels of mixed organic solvents and the third group were employees in old painting saloon that exposed to noise and mixed organic solvents in more than threshold limit value (TLV) level. The prevalence of hearing loss was compared between three groups on the basis of model 1 (mean hearing threshold in frequencies 0.5, 1 and 2 KHz more than 25dB) and model 2 (mean hearing threshold in frequencies 3, 4, 6 and 8 KHz more than 25dB). Results: According to model 2, in workers exposed to noise in addition to mixed organic solvents, the rate of hearing loss, was significantly higher than workers exposed to noise alone (P<0.05), even after adjusting for confounding variables using logistic regression analysis (OR= 4.12 , P<0.001).Conclusion: In workers with simultaneous exposure to mixed organic solvents and noise, special attention must be paid to accurate accomplishment of hearing conservation programs including doing audiometric exams in shorter periods and take advantage of hearing protection devices with higher noise reduction rate (NRR).

Background: Factor ХIII, the last zymogene in the clotting cascade, converts the loose fibrin polymer into a firm polymer. In the absence of factor ХIII the abnormal fibrin is soluble in acetic acid, as well as 5M urea. Factor ХIII is composed of 2 catalytic A subunit bounds and 2 B subunits as carriers (A2B2). The gene of A chain is located on chromosome 6. Factor ХII deficiency is rare; with a prevalence of only 1 in 2 million in the general population. The overwhelming majority of cases are due to mutations in subunit A. The aim of this study was to detect the mutations of subunit A.Materials & Methods: In this study we investigated the molecular basis of inherited factor ХIII deficiency among 10 unrelated patients from Sistan and Balouchestan province in 2006. Mutations were detected by amplifying each exon. Those exons exhibiting the presence of heteroduplex by conformation sensitive gel electrophoresis (CSGE) were selected for direct sequencing. Sequencing of mutations was carried out by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). Results: All patients had homologous subsitiation of TGG to CGG in exon 4 which led to change of arginine to tryptophan.Conclusion: The mutation found in this study was in the core domain of enzyme. It seems that the changs in electric charge and affinity of enzyme to substrate‚ as a result decreases the level of factor XIII-A activity.

Background: Dye is one of the most important pollutants in textile industrial wastewater. The scope of this study was to evaluate the feasibility application of eggshell as a sorbent for the removal of reactive red 123 dyes from synthetic wastewater.Materials and Methods: This study is an applied- experimental research which was performed in laboratory scale and in environmental chemistry laboratory of Baqiyatallah (a.s) university of medical sciences. Eggshell as a sorbent was prepared in laboratory condition (20-25°C) and pulverized by standard ASTM sieves. The effective size (D10) and D60 were 3 and 5.1mm, respectively and uniformity coefficient (UC) was 1.7. The concentrations of dye in wastewater were 25 and 50 mg/l.Results: In this study increasing of adsorbent dose from 1 to 5 g/100ml led to increase of the adsorption efficiency from 48 to 80.7 %. The maximum adsorption took place in first 60min of reaction. With increasing the temperature up to 45°C the pollutant adsorption was increased and increasing of pH from 5 to 8 led to increase of process efficiency from 30 to 48%. Also absorption characteristics of this pollutant on eggshell accommodated with Langmuir isotherm.Conclusion: Eggshell can be used as a natural adsorbent in water and wastewater treatment. This adsorbent is an appropriate media for the treatment of textile wastewater that usually have alkaline condition and high temperature.

Background: Cardiac complications due to iron overload are the most common causes of death in patients with major thalassemia. This study assessed the efficacy of iron chelating by desferal-L1 in improvement of cardiac function in patients with major thalassemia. Methods and Materials: Patients older than 8 years old with major thalassemia that were admitted to hematology ward of Ali-e-Asghar hospital of Zahedan in 2005-2006 and had lower than normal diastolic indices in annual echocardiography were considered as study population. During primary tests, indices of diastolic function of left and right hearts were calculated, using echocardiography with 2D, M-mode and Doppler then the patients were placed on a combination of desferal (30- 40mg/kg/day two nights per week) and L1 (deferiprone) (75mg/kg/day, three times a day). At the end of the study, cardiac indices were calculated again. Data were using SPSS software and paired t-test and P<0.05 was considered as significant level. Results: Of 38 patients, who were treated with a combination of desferal-L1, 19 were female with the mean age of 16.9±3.1 and 18 were male with the mean age of 17.3±2.6 years. Diastolic indices of right ventricle had no significant difference before and after treatment except PET/ET which decreased significantly after treatment (P<0.05). Of diastolic indices of left ventricule peak-Evelocity and IVRT and E/A ratio decreased significantly after treatment (P<0.05). The difference of peak-A-velocity before and after treatment was not significant (P>0.05). Systolic indices of left ventricule increased significantly after treatment (P<0.05).Conclusion: In this study, after one year of treatment with a combination of desferal-L1 in patients with major thalassemia, echocardiography showed improvement in left heart systolic and diastolic function. This combination therapy prevented progression of right ventricular diastolic function abnormality.

Background: After cesarean section, practices vary considerably between institutions and individual practitioners, ranging from early oral fluids or food to delayed introduction of oral fluids and food which may be after 24 hours or more. This study was carried out to assess and compare the outcome, length of hospital stay and maternal satisfaction of early (2 hours) and late (8 hours) postoperative feeding after uncomplicated cesarean section done under spinal anesthesia.Materials and Methods: In this randomized clinical trial, 112 women undertaking uncomplicated cesarean section under regional anesthesia from August 2008 to August 2009 were randomly assigned to early feeding (2 hours after operation) and late feeding (conventional 8 hours after operation) groups. Two groups were compared for the occurrence of postoperative outcome, possible complications, length of hospital stay and patient´s satisfaction. Chi Squared and t-tests were used to analyze the data. Statistical significance was set at P< 0.05. Results: There were no significant differences in the demographic data and operation variables between the two groups. No significant differences were noted between the groups regarding post feeding nausea and vomiting, post operative ileus and other complications and duration of hospitalization. Compared with the late postoperative feeding, the early feeding group had a shorter mean time to first flatus (P=0.03) and higher satisfaction rate (P<0.0001).Conclusion: Early feeding (2 hours) after uncomplicated cesarean in low-risk woman is associated with higher maternal satisfaction without higher rates of gastrointestinal and non gastrointestinal complications.

Background: Assessment of microbial contamination in dental unit waterlines has been focused on because of high risk of dangerous infections in immunocompromised patients. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the bacterial contamination of water supply in dental unit water lines at Zahedan Dental School.Materials and Methods: In this descriptive analytical study we investigated 400 water samples collected from four parts of each unit including air/water syringe, turbine handpiece (before & after flushing), cup filler and 1 water sample collected from city water reservoir in Zahedan faculty of dentistry during 2008. Water samples were taken on Saturdays (the first working day in a week) and Wednesdays (the last working day in a week), before and after treatment on the same unit. Samples were transported in closed sterile containers to microbiology laboratory. All samples were incubated on blood agar and McCankey plates for 72 hours at 37°C. Bacterial contamination were then evaluted. Data were analyzed by ANOVA and t-test.Results: Total mean bacterial count was 6914 cfu/ml. Mean bacterial contamination on Saturdays (8859 cfu/ml) were higher than Wednesdays (4969 cfu/ml). Mean bacterial contamination before treatment was (5155 cfu/ml) less than the end of treatment (8673 cfu/ml) on the same unit. Mean bacterial contaminations of prosthetics clinic (13439cfu/ml) was higher than other clinics. The mean of periodentology clinic bacterial contaminations (3012 cfu/ml) was the least.Conclusion: The result of this study demonstrated that microbiological level of dental unit water lines is high. The dentists must be aware of the high level of microorganisms in the dental unit's water and thus minimize the risk of infection in both staff and patients.

Background: Most lantern mantles contain low levels of radioactive thorium. Although radioactive lantern mantles present a minimal radiation health hazard, it is generally believed when inhaled or ingested, it can be dangerous. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of short term exposure to radioactive lantern mantle on serum cortisol level and blood count.Materials and Methods: This experimental study was conducted in 2007-2009 in the school of medicine of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences. Twenty eight rats were divided randomly into two groups of 14 animals each. The first group was exposed to 600 mg burned radioactive lantern mantle powder (activity of 800Bq) for 24 hours and inhaled radon released from mantles. The second group was exposed to non-radioactive lantern mantle powder at the same interval. Paired t-test was used to evaluate the difference in the means of cortisol and blood cell count in both groups. P<0.05 was considered as the significance level.Results: Short term exposure of animals to radioactive lantern mantle powder led to a statistically significant decreased cortisol level, while no statistically significant decrease was found in animals that were exposed to non-radioactive mantle powder. Furthermore, a significant reduction was shown in post-exposure counts of WBC in the case group. Conclusions: Despite alteration of serum cortisol level, this study could not show stimulatory effects in some blood counts.

Hepatitis A is the most common form of hepatitis infection in children that it is considered to be one of endemic diseases in our country. Hepatitis A virus leads to acute hepatitis and manifests with symptoms such as anorexia, vomiting, fever, abdominal discomfort and dark urine. Pleural effusion and ascites are rare and benign complications following hepatitis A, especially in children; in this article, a rare case of pleural effusion in Hepatitis A was introduced. A 28 month child was admitted to Ali ebn-e Abitaleb (a.s) hospital of Zahedan with symptoms of anorexia, vomiting, fever, abdominal pain, jaundice and dark urine from four days before admission. During hospital admission hepatitis A was diagnosed and chest radiograph showed bilateral fluid accumulation in pleural space. Ascites was also determined.The disease resolved after one week of supportive care without any medical treatment and there was no evidence of pleural effusion and ascites in follow-up visits. The possibility of pleural effusion should be kept in mind in patients with hepatitis A.